Anyone could advocate against symbolic references, but the fact remains
that they remain useful, especially when exporting symbols to other
namespaces - as a standard practice.

There Shall Not Be One And Only One Responsible Way. This is Perl;
when you don't know the right way , at least the many
other ways that can prove useful: the lack of 'inferior' alternatives
will yield you with nothing at all. The OP stood up and asked for
solutions, he deserves to hear many answers.